These are the first Oculus Rift PC bundles - preorders start next week

Facebook-owned Oculus VR has already confirmed its Rift virtual-reality headset will be available from March, but now we have word about official bundles that'll be up for pre-order in one week. The bundles include not only the headset but also the certified PC required to run it.

Amazon, Microsoft Store, and Best Buy will begin accepting pre-orders for these "Oculus Ready" bundles from Asus, Dell, and Alienware on 16 February at 11 am EST. Bundles start at $1,499 but can cost upwards of $3,000. For instance, Alienware's Area 51 desktop has a Hawswell Core i7 chip with 16GB of memory and GTX 980 graphics, and it costs $3,149.

Keep in mind these are "limited time" prices too. If you already own a PC that can render VR (first go here to see if your PC meets the minimum requirements), you can stick to getting the Rift headset for $599. It will begin shipping 28 March. The new PC bundles will likely arrive a month later, as both Amazon and Best Buy show a shipping date of 23 April.

Each bundle also comes with the sensor, an Xbox One controller, remote, Eve: Valkyrie Founder’s Pack and Lucky’s Tale. Check out Oculus' blog post for more details about all the bundles and how you can get one. Pocket-lint also has this piece detailing everything you need to know about Oculus Rift pre-ordering, including information about games.